C H A P T E R S E V E N

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter. The wonderful characters are the creation of Togashi-sama. Any original characters who do appear however (and there will be plenty) belong to me.

Summary: It all began when Illumi was caught wearing women's clothes and competing in a beauty competition. However, it would seem that there are other reasons for his cross-dressing, and winning the prize not all that important.

Rating: M 15+

"Thanks for reserving my seat!" Gon passed the large bottles of water and soft drink to his friends. Killua grabbed his share, ripped the lid off with his teeth and tipped half the contents of the bottle down his throat to quench his thirst. Kurapika reached for his gratefully.

"You're the lifesaver Gon," he remarked, brushing aside his blonde fringe which had been matted down to his sweaty, hence sticky forehead and wiped his damp brow. He concluded that the reason for the sharp rise in heat and humidity was due to the large numbers of people packed into the arena. Competitors put up their names and signed all waiver forms, giving up their rights to sue for serious bodily injury incurred on stage. By flashing his Hunter card, Kurapika managed to reserve front row seats for all his friends (new ones included) allowing them to possess the most spectacular view. He had to shake the dirt out of his hair several times already, but from the vantage point, he could analyze each and every competitor's attacks.

Zuchi could not stay still. The late afternoon sun had descended to bask the golden sands of the arena in a fiery orange glow and cast long shadows, stretching them across the full length of the stadium. The atmosphere in the arena was just simply amazing: spectators shouted, cheered, clapped, booed and even threw the odd rotten tomato at a particularly pathetic competitor. It was like being pushed along by a sea of people, joining in with the adrenaline rush of the fights, the deafening roars of excitement - it was ten times better than the Celestial Fighting Tower. Wing sensei had to tell him more than twice already to remain seated. Even the ever cool Killua had lost his usual calm and like Gon and Zuchi, raved his head off at the fights and competitors.

"The excitement is…contagious…" Kurapika commented hesitantly as he felt his heart unwittingly beat faster in time with the clapping and stomping. Wing could barely hear him above the deafening din, even though they sat right next to each other.

"LEORIO! WE'RE DOWN HERE!" Gon shouted and hyperactively gestured to get the doctor's attention. The doctor in training peered through the thicket of waving hands and banners and pushed past the multitudes of people to meet Gon and Killua down the front. His eyes were wide with excitement.

"My god!" he shouted. "I just walked in, and I already want to scream my head off and get onto the sands myself to kick some dirt! How about it? I grab the forms and you guys line up…"

Kurapika would have none of that nonsensical talk and urged them all to return to their seats otherwise he'd pull out the red eyes on them.

Wing pushed his glasses firmly back up onto his nose trying to keep his face somber and strict. Unlike the rest of the raving people, he fought hard to remain composed, seated and watched the fights keenly with the eye of a professional. Zuchi realized that his sensei had his 'ten' strongly flaring and gave him a look of questioning and wonder.

"There is nen all around us," Wing patiently explained to his favourite student, deliberately mouthing his words more emphatically in case his voice was stolen away by the uproars, "and it's been stirred up into a whirlwind that is affecting the emotions of every spectator here."

"General Kamus said something like that too….about the nen being around us and all, but people were much calmer outside." Killua shouted back with five lollipops in his mouth. Leorio's jaw dropped in horror when he saw this and quickly took out three in case Killua spoke too much and choked on them.

"It's because that man's nen over there is so strong that it's capable of stimulating the nen around us. His bloodlust is thus amplified, and in turn, we too feel his excitement for fights."

They all turned to where Wing was steadily looking and saw a lean and gaunt man with pale hollow cheeks, dirty black hair that looked like it had been cut with a blunt knife and dull black eyes that glinted madness. He was wearing something that looked like a breastplate sawed in half, leaving the abdomen exposed (query the protection that this sort of armour provides), and underneath that, he wore a beige coloured shirt and loose black pants that tightened at the end to calf high boots. Tied around waist however was a purple shawl that glittered with strange symbols, each symbol a prized jewel under the sun. He casually leaned over to one side from his iron throne to speak to one of the highly stressed co-ordinators of the tournament and laughed aloud when the man scampered off.

"Wing sensei," Gon began with a curious expression on his face "why can't we see this nen around us? I'm using gyo already but I still see nothing."

They could all see that Wing was under a lot of pressure to resist the frenzy of battle. The will of the thousands of masses around them mounted, constantly accumulating and it crashed against Wing's flickering ten. It had been liquid smooth and stable before but was now reduced to a faint whimpering like the fluttering heartbeats of a dying bird. Wing gulped and tried to put on a brave smile although the corners of his lips twitched spasmodically.

"Biscuit-sensei and Netero-sama once told me about Arcadia, especially its capital. This country was one of the first places to discover and develop nen. Their lines of Emperors are all proud and powerful nen users. There are even myths and legends of emperors whose mastery over the nen was so great, that they 'walked the world like gods'. The explanation behind this is the phenomenon of the 'natural nen user'."

"Natural nen user? I think I heard my sensei say something like that once as well," Leorio mumbled, loosening his tie, undoing the top button and fanning the exposed chest fervently. In his memory however, Dr Faust had not meant it as a complimentary expression, more of an oath or expletive as he poured over dusty old medical texts and found himself unable to replicate half the feats as the book had been written by a 'natural nen user'.

Wing swallowed, his eyes never leaving the madman sitting opposite them on the other side of the Arena. When he continued, there was a slight trembling in his voice that he tried to hide by clutching at his sides. "A natural nen user is a person born with nen and can use nen at birth. They are born with full realization of all their hatsu abilities - "

"You mean they have power to manipulate Emperor time?!" Kurapika exclaimed, almost falling out of his seat in a scramble to hear Wing's words over another roar of the crowd.

Wing nodded tensely. "Yes, except they constantly inhabit this mode because it's born with them. Full realization of all types of hatsu allows you to clearly see the nen which is around us….and if you're near the Forbidden Palace, you could probably see the 'ghosts' too."

"Sensei," Zuchi piped up, "can you see the nen around us?"

Wing pushed his glasses up again as it kept on slipping down his nose which was slick and slippery with sweat. "Yes, only just. My materialization is only twenty percent and Specialization only five percent, but it is enough to see it vaguely."

Leorio looked to Kurapika and tapped him on the shoulder. Leaning down so that his lips were practically glued to the latter's ear, he half-shouted: "Hey, why don't you give it a shot then tell us what you see."

Kurapika acquiesced, admitting that he too was overwhelmed by his curiousity, and gradually and allowed his eyes to bleed red. Wing and Zuchi quietly observed in amazement the gradual change in Kurapika's eyes and his increased aura.

The blonde Kurata saw it. Wing was right; the nen around them was so distorted and chaotic that if it broke free from the walls of the stadium, it would blow anything within a five mile radius away. Yet it was beautiful and beckoning at the same time and its battle anthem sent his finger tips tingling. The nen raced around the stadium at terrifying speeds, rejoicing in its glorious freedom, offering to pick you up from the confines of the mortal body to join with the free-flowing nen and experience experiences that a human body has been denied because of its constraints. The colours continually shifted and were never constant; one moment it was green, then it was deep brown, then yellow, and then blue or jumbled like paint on an artist's palette. It was wonderful and terrifying at the same time and the sensation left Kurapika utterly speechless.

And all of a sudden, the nen crashed to an abrupt halt and became soft white snowflakes bobbing amongst them. The cheers and roars also died down and Kurapika frantically searched around him in his disorientated state, wondering why the pretty kaleidoscope had stopped spinning. There was an awed hush.

The man Wing had been caught in a staring competition for the past half hour with raised a thin hand and the crowd likewise looked on, their complete attention straining to hear each and every word that the man had to say. The hand slowly levelled and pointed at Kurapika.

"You," his voice was dangerous and harsh, "You and me. Right here. Right now."

Kurapika stomach overturned and his friends froze. It was a challenge.

After a delayed silence, the crowd burst into violent cheering. "General Misha! General Misha!" they chanted over and over again – it wasn't hard to picture them as fearsome berserker warriors from the northern countries, frothing at the mouth, the beating of swords on their shields the rhythm of war. The nen which picked up around them again was enough to crush poor Kurapika and sweep him away like he was nothing but a twig being tossed around in violent rapids.

So that man was General Misha, the host of this tournament. He must have noticed his abilities or something; a man with exceptional abilities always recognizes other people like him.

"Come on," Misha taunted, running a hand through his greasy hair, an easy smile on his handsome face, "how long can you last in that state?"

A soldier came forward and presented the General with his battle glaive. "Well? What say you? I don't mind you bringing your friend if you want." He gestured carelessly at Wing, "He's last a long time already."

"Come on Kurapika! Sensei! Might as well have some fun while you're here!" Zuchi leapt out of his seat and tried to tug them up. He'd actually never seen his teacher fight, and this was the opportunity of a lifetime: to pit yourself against one of Arcadia's Ten Generals – and the youngest one too boot! The Celestial Fighting Tower would never offer such an opportunity! Besides, General Misha didn't look like a bad man and seemed friendly enough, especially with his disarming grin that had all the ladies in the stadium swooning. There he was, the gaunt figure basking in the flames of the orange dusk, adjusting that sparkling sash on his waist, humming an odd tune that reverberated around the stadium.

"Let's do it Kurapika. An Arcadian General - I think he will be quite a formidable foe."

Kurapika could only agree. Although the man looked fragile, being tall and thin, wraith-like, it was the madness dancing in those hollow eyes that unnerved each spectator. But he wanted to try. He could put his motivation down to many things, but he guessed that it was mainly the nen around them which instilled in him a sort of reckless bravery. He nodded, with more firmness this time, and jumped onto the hot, blood soaked sands. He freed his dowsing chain and held the madman's gaze using a calm that he reserved for moments when he was forced to traverse the tightrope between life and death..

"Two minutes. That's how long I can hold this state for," he announced steadily (even though there was a small voice in his mind hysterically blabbing on about how he was too young to die) and let the chain swing. Through his intense concentration, he could hear the faint shouts and cheers of encouragement from his friends. Bleakly, it reminded him of funeral knells.

~*~*~*~*~


Kikyou so wished she could see the Master Eunuch in front of her but as bad luck would have it, her visor had stuffed up. She wanted to see if the eunuch in front of her still looked like the old man she knew when she was four. How time sometimes has a habit of flying by with years tumbling in the blink of an eye – it had been forty years already since she last spoke with this man.

"Do you remember what happened that eventful night?" Master Echlan asked, calmly sipping tea.

They were seated in a high class dining area in The Imperial - a six star hotel that commonly served leaders of other countries. It is also the hotel that all of Killua and his friends were booked into. Had the situation been less fraught with tension, Kikyou would have laughed at the fact that the entire Zoldick family was gathered in one hotel, a family whose strength paralleled a small, well-equipped army. She shifted uneasily in her seat and let her sight trail down to her blurred tea cup resting on its matching saucer as she recounted an evening forty years ago that changed her life.

"My brother told me to stay in the back room when we heard the screams of the house servants being slaughtered – most likely by a wipe-out squad. Kimmy wouldn't listen and grabbed a sword off the wall so that she could go out and fight as well. I guess she's always been the type to actively stand up for herself. She was gone in the dark before I could follow her. Then the west wing caught fire so I went to the back courtyard to look for Dad because I thought I heard his voice."

Each fragment of her memory was like a still-frame of one long film whose clarity had not dulled through the decades. It was uncanny how the mind just wouldn't let you forget some things.

"I don't know what happened. I saw Dad being cut down when I reached the garden, and I thought I heard Kimmy scream as well. Before I knew it, people dressed in black had caught me and ran off before I could even call out to nee-chan."

The old eunuch solemnly murmured: "Yes, it was later discovered from one of the bodies that the people came from Meteor Street. They must have been sent by the Empress. Your father had been climbing the rungs of politics to rise in importance in the Army, and the Empress felt especially threatened since you are, in some distant way, relatives of the Kalinnan family. Rodimostev II's hold on power was already starting to crumble four decades ago and I wouldn't be surprised if she saw your family as a potential successor to the throne."

Kikyou felt her husband's warm, calloused hands envelop hers, giving it a small squeeze that urged her to continue. The amount of bitterness in her voice still managed to shock her for she thought she had long ago severed her ties to a country she could no longer return to.

"I woke up in the dark, and heard a lot of arguing going on. They quieted down when they saw me awake, and one of them thought to humiliate me by treating me as a maid – he told me to make them coffee." Her frown deepened, her voice turned hard and for the first time, they could detect a trace of mirthless humour. "Little did they know that I still had a packet of tarantula dust on me."

"What was a four year old princess doing with a pack of ultra lethal, tasteless and odourless poison? I don't think Killua is even qualified to handle that yet." Incredulousness caused Silva's eyes to widen at his wife's words. The hand he was holding instantly clenched into a fist harder than steel.

"Like Master Echlan said, the Empress was a bitch! She told me off for getting mud all over myself, which was my business, not hers, and she threw my dog into a pot of burning oil because it 'amused' her! I was going to poison her myself, or ruin her face at least. God, I would have liked to hear her scream in pain." She dissipated her anger with a dismissive gesture burdened by weariness whilst the men struggled to hide the goosebumps, calm the tiny hairs on the back of neck and unobtrusively moving their hands to protect their groin for Kikyou had a particular way of biting out the last word.

"Well, I certainly didn't hesitate to tip the whole pack into the boiling water nicely did as I was told. Two seconds later, they were clawing their throats, their tongues stuck out as far as it could go and by golly they sure had great difficulty breathing."

"They would never have anticipated that you would be carrying poison on you," Echlan agreed.

"Hell yeah." Silva inaudibly gulped and decided now was nigh time to see his wife in a new light and perhaps cut back on telling her to shut up all the time. When he, a young boy nearing the end of puberty, and his dad had stopped by Meteor street after completion of a large and successful commission, they decided on a bustling noodle shop for lunch. The owner of the shop was Kikyou herself and Zeno terribly admired her management skills: how she handled the hooligans and dangerous folk around the area and managed to earn quite a hefty sum of money. Silva knew his wife was strong and capable, overwhelmingly dominant at times, but he never realized that her resistance and defiance was entrenched into her as a child. To think about poisoning the Emperor's wife at age 4 made her prime candidate as the Zoldick's bride.

"Well, I worked as a kitchen hand in a pasta store. The old uncle was nice. He gave me meals and a place to stay in return for washing the dishes, keeping the kitchen clean and helping him to serve. After a few years, I had the means of returning to Arcadia, but given the political instability, I assumed that everyone was killed and I had nothing to return to. So I stayed in Meteor Street until I met Silva. It was only until recently that I wanted to return…just to have a look."

"Actually, Princess Kikyou, your marriage to Silva was arranged when you were three years old." Echlan politely coughed. "You see, Zeno and I have been good friends, since we were young kids. It was a long time ago; I had just begun working in the Forbidden Palace when I met Zeno trying to breach the palace walls for the sake of breaching the palace walls. I spotted him and he tried to run but when I outran him, he attacked, we fought, I wiped the ground with his face." The dainty, effeminate man shot his friend a companionable grin and chuckle. "We've kept in touch all these years, mainly because we were interested in how strong each of us would get over time. I've taught your father many times not to look at us eunuchs with disdain."

Zeno grumbled. "You cheated."

The Master eunuch took no offence, and actually laughed out loud affectionately. "Why Zeno, if you want to be on the same level playing field as me, you can always castrate yourself." Restraining himself, Echlan laughed behind a delicate hand, showing off his manicured fingernails. Zeno's grumbling only got louder.

"I've never regarded you with disdain," he muttered. "The way I see it, you treat me with contempt!"

"Of course not! Otherwise I wouldn't have persuaded the Emperor to let an Arcadian Princess marry a Zoldick on the condition that the Zoldick never accept a job to target the Royal family. I selected the young Kastro princess when I saw her ordering and bossing the house servants around Kastro Court with such an uncompromising tone for her age that grown men shivered. I tried to give you the best Zeno."

The couple were shocked, then aghast, then found the situation quite amusing.

"The condition remains," Echlan told Zeno. It was not a question but a reminder. "And in return for the promise of maintaining this condition, I have excellent news to declare."

Kikyou had to pinch Silva quite hard to make his promise.

Echlan's red lips pulled into a smile. "First of all, Princess, your wish has been realized. The former Empress is indeed screaming right now in the deepest, darkest, foulest dungeon in the Forbidden Palace. The current Emperor declared her to be a traitor to this country, and thus has been condemned to suffer for the rest of her life."

"Good," Kikyou said fiercely, causing the other men to wince again. Echlan chuckled.

"And second of all, I'll take you to see your brother tomorrow afternoon at Kastro Court. An escort will pick you up from this hotel tomorrow. You'll be pleased to meet your niece as well, but your nephews are currently away training in the army and won't be back for some time."

"What about Kimmy?"

Echlan lowered his gaze. "That I'm afraid is the bad news. Kimone killed herself ten years ago."